Customer Reviews

Uniden WNR2004 802.11b Wireless LAN Access Point with 4-Port Router

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I ordered the WNR2004 AP/Router and 2 Uniden PCW100 USB Wireless Adapters from outpost.com.

WNR2004 - $39.99, before $20 mail-in Rebate
PCW100 - $9.99 each, before $10 mail-in Rebate
Overnight Shipping - $11.30

Total $71.30, before $40 mail-in Rebate. This brings total cost to $31.30 for an 802.11b wireless network capable of 2 wireless machines.

Setup was a breeze until I started playing with advanced configuration, then it got to be a bit of a headache.
Connect the AP to cable modem and power, connect USB adapter to PC, install Drivers, and it immediately connected with the AP upstairs in one corner of the house, and the USB adapter downstairs in the other corner. Excellent signal strength, and 11.0 Mbps speed.

Configuration is web-based, and when you apply changes, you are told changes were saved and asked if you wish to reboot the router now. This is where I started having problems. Most of the time, if I chose yes, it would disconnect, and the Adapter would no longer lock onto the AP until I went up and physically rebooted the router. Seems it wasn't properly rebooting when I chose yes.

I quickly figured out the trick to this - choose no to reboot, then go to admin options and tell it to reboot there.

128-Bit WEP setup, and disabling the router broadcasting its' presence was no problem, changing network name and channel likewise was no problem.

My only major complaint so far is that the MAC access control says it is for enabling/disabling certain MACs from having internet access, not network access in general. I would prefer being able to completely block all MAC addresses from accessing the network at all, and from connecting to the AP, rather than just blocking them from internet access. There may be a way to do so, and I just have not found it yet.

Overall, it's an excellent product at an extremely cheap price (where I bought it anyways), with only a few small flaws. Solid 4/5.

There is an irreparable problem with file sharing between computers on the LAN and wireless clients (YEP!), and I haven't been able to get DMZ to work (but got around it by opening ports manually).

But for sharing internet, and wireless function -- no complaints.

I have this router and it has worked fairly well for last three years. Works well with all sorts of wireless cards from uniden to broadcom based to atheros based. VPN, port forwarding works fine. Issues I have encountered so far:

1. DHCP timeout too low. Comcast network sometimes is overloaded and the DHCP server on their side takes a long time to respond. This router times out without getting an address. Usually couple of retries do the trick.

2. Every setting change requires a reboot.

3. Sometimes computers on LAN cannot talk to each other for no apparent reason. WAN access is fine. A reboot fixes this.

4. Never could get it to update the dyndns entry automatically on a reboot.

5. UPnP is iffy. Sometimes works and sometimes doesn't.

Finally upgrading to 802.11g as last of my laptops now is 802.11g.

As stated before the router does split your internet connection. However, even if you do not upgrade your to 1.08 you still can network between wired and wireless computers.

This seriously limits the function of a router. Instead this device should have been labeled as an internet gateway.

Calling this device a router is a misnomer. Hopefully Uniden will address this issue.

Because this product does have potential. If this issue was fixed I would give it 5 stars if you can buy it for less than 30.00.

I think outpost had it for that price.

Sincerely

For casual internet surfing users, this router may satisfy their needs without problem. However, for more serious users, this router has problems. First, do not upgrade the firmware to 1.08 that listed on Uniden web site. That particular firmware will block the communication between wired and wireless computers connected through that router. Second, I cannot make this router work with VPN of my company. I tried several other brands routers, they all work fine except for this one. If Uniden is able to fix those two problems then I will be more than happy to give it a four stars rating.